ANAHEIM, Calif. – Surprisingly snubbed from the lineup that marked the UFC’s network-television debut, Benson Henderson and Clay Guida proved why they belonged on the broadcast.

In an action-packed fight that left the crowd buzzing, Henderson topped his frantically paced opponent and staked claim to a lightweight title shot.

The fight was the featured undercard attraction of UFC on FOX, which took place Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

While only the night’s heavyweight title fight between champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos aired on FOX, the entire nine-bout preliminary card streamed on Facebook and FOXSports.com. And no attraction was more anticipated that Henderson vs. Guida, which promised the winner a 2012 shot at champ Frankie Edgar.

Early in the opening round, Henderson dropped Guida with a right hand and then buckled him again during a subsequent firefight. Guida then worked for a single-leg takedown, but Henderson fended it off and delivered some short shots to the body. However, later in the round, Guida buckled Henderson with a crisp right and briefly attempted a guillotine choke before Henderson escaped and delivered a knee and kick to the body.

After the action-packed first round, the frantic pace continued in the second. Each fighter worked for takedowns, and both did damage from the close-quarters fighting. After just ducking under a spinning back fist, Henderson dipped and scored the takedown. Guida scrambled and looked for the guillotine while pulling guard, but Henderson took his back and worked for a rear-naked choke that was cut short by the end of the round.

With fight seemingly up for grabs after the back-and-forth rounds, both fighters threw single shots in the third but looked for the other to commit. Henderson eventually closed the distance and pressed Guida against the cage before delivering some effective short elbows. Guida fended off a takedown attempt while against the cage, but Henderson continued scoring with knees and elbows before ducking under a kick and getting a takedown. He took his opponent’s back, but Guida escaped, forced Henderson to the mat and worked for a guillotine choke from varying angles, but he couldn’t cinch it before the fight’s end.

It was a remarkable fight full of action, but in the end, the judges awarded it to Henderson via 30-27, 29-28 and 30-27 scores.

Has Dustin Poirier graduated from young prospect to legit contender? Following a technically proficient win over crafty Pablo Garza, it appears that way.

The 22-year-old Poirier landed some heavy shots in the first round of their featherweight fight and narrowly avoided a deep kneebar when Garza forced the fight to the mat. Poirier also unloaded some heavy punches once a big straight left once forced Garza to the mat.

After Garza pulled guard in the second, Poirier unloaded some addition punches from the top before he saw an opening for a D’Arce choke attempt from north-south position. Garza was in a terrible position for the submission and was forced to concede quickly from the choke.

The tap-out came at the 1:32 mark of the round.

While the bout didn’t have the flash of some of Poirier’s other performances, he said there was a reason for it.

“He’s unpredictable; he’s dangerous,” he said. “We’re professionals. I have to come in and be smart.”

Poirier (11-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC), a former WEC lightweight, is now 3-0 since he dropped to featherweight for his UFC debut. Garza (11-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who also dropped to 145 pounds when he joined the UFC, suffers his first loss in the octagon.

Lamas survives for submission win over Swanson

It wasn’t easy, and he faced some early troubles, but Ricardo Lamas ultimately stormed back for a second-round submission victory over fellow featherweight Cub Swanson.

In the opening round, Lamas narrowly survived a sustained guillotine-choke attempt, and after that, he narrowly survived of flurry of punches and kicks from Swanson.

Swanson initially carried the momentum into the second round but quickly got wild with his strikes and easily was taken off his feet. Once on the mat, Lamas did some damage from top position. Swanson appeared as though he’d get back to his feet, but Lamas pulled him away from the cage, moved to side mount, and then locked in a fight-ending arm-triangle choke that prompted a tap-out.

The end came at the 2:16 of the second frame.

Lamas (11-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is off to a great start in the UFC, and including a WEC stint, he’s now 5-1 over his past six fights. Swanson (16-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who fought for the first time in a year due to injuries, has alternated between wins and losses over his past six fights.

Johnson blasts Harvison with uppercut

DaMarques Johnson celebrated before the fight was even over, but fellow welterweight Clay Harvison was already clearly done.

A little more than a minute into the fight, Johnson unloaded a crushing uppercut to his opponent’s jaw, and Harvison crashed to the mat. Johnson raised his hands in celebration but quickly pounced with a few additional shots to assure the referee halted the bout.

He did, and the stoppage came at the 1:34 mark of the opening round.

Johnson (13-9 MMA, 4-3 UFC), a runner-up on “The Ultimate Fighter 9,” is 4-2 since the show’s live finale, and his latest victory allows him to rebound from an embarrassing March loss to Amir Sadollah.

” I just wanted to go out there and show a more polished version of
myself, and I think I did that tonight,” he said. “I was prepared to let the fight
go wherever he wanted to take it. I planned on giving him a false sense
of security and self confidence so that I could capitalize on his
mistakes if he over-committed.”

Harvison (9-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC), who recently competed on “TUF 13,” suffers his second straight defeat in the octagon. He suggested he may move down to lightweight for his next fight.

Uyenoyama shuts down Yamamoto

Darren Uyenoyama had no intention of giving fellow bantamweight Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto room to maneuver, and his relentless attacks and dominant ground game carried him to a shutout unanimous-decision victory.

Uyenoyama nearly ended the fight late in the first round after he took Yamamoto to the mat, took his back, and locked in a rear-naked choke. Yamamoto, though, narrowly survived and was saved by the bell.

Yamamoto came out strong and scored a knockdown punch in the second, but Uyenoyama again took his back and secured his hooks. However, despite a few minutes of grappling to improve his position and dozens of punches, he again failed to secure the fight-ending choke, though he nearly got a tap-out.

In the third round, Uyenoyama wanted to get the fight to the ground, and he pulled guard to get it. He got some decent opportunities off his back, but Yamamoto eventually got back to his feet. The Japanese fighter winged some punches but couldn’t land the home-run shot he needed, and Uyenoyama ultimately picked up the unanimous-decision victory.

The judges scored it 30-27, 30-26 and 30-27.

“I’d like to apologize to the fans for putting on a boring fight,” Yamamoto said. “Darren is very good and much stronger on the ground than I expected.”

Uyenoyama (7-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC), a former DREAM and Strikeforce fighter, picks up the biggest win of his career in his octagon debut.

“I didn’t have an easy road to get here, and I had the honor of fighting a legend and a personal hero of mine,” he said.

Yamamoto (18-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC), who was once one of the world’s top lightweight fighters, moves to 1-4 over his past five fights and may be done with the UFC.

Accidental headbutt leads Peralta to TKO of Semerzier

Robert Peralta won the victory over fellow featherweight Mackens Semerzier, but it should come with a asterisk due to its bizarre finish.

Semerzier scored a knockdown in the bout’s first round with a quick right hand, and he did additional ground-and-pound damage once he muscled the fight to the mat. Peralta, though, then scored his own knockdown early in the second, though an alert Semerzier quickly got off the mat and closed the distance to avoid further damage. Quickly recovered, Semerzier made the remainder of the round fairly evenly matched.

Unfortunately, bad luck struck Semerzier in the final round. While both fighters threw right hooks, their heads collided, and Semerzier was badly rocked. He stumbled to the mat, and Peralta quickly pounced with a flurry of punches that forced a TKO stoppage at the 1:54 mark of the round.

Although Peralta initially appeared to score the knockdown with a punch, it was clearly the heatbutt that did the damage. Both fighters left the cage with cuts from the headbutt.

“When I caught him, I was just trying to throw everything I had to finish him as quickly as possible,” Peralta said.

Peralta (16-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a Mexican fighter who went on to dominate the California circuit, has now won nine straight fights. Semerzier (6-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who’s a much better fighter than his record indicates, moves to 1-4 over his past five fights.

Caceres impresses in win over ex-champ Escovedo

Alex Caceres’ bantamweight debut was a success, and he scored an impressive shutout decision victory over early-WEC champion Cole Escovedo.

Caceres posted a flashy and effective first round with front kicks, a spinning back fist, lunging punches to the body and a flying knee. It was merely a prelude of what was to come.

Caceres continued the display in the second round and proved to be the better-conditioned fighter. A takedown from Escovedo forced Caceres to scramble out of the jiu-jitsu ace’s guard, but once back up, he then picked away at Escovedo with straight punches from distance.

Caceres opened with a nice side kick in the final round, but Escovedo quickly scored a takedown and finally appeared to get the fight where he wanted it. However, Caceres fired off a quick triangle-choke-attempt and then smoothly transitioned to an armbar. Escovedo escaped, but Caceres had shut down his opponent’s best shot at victory. Still full of energy, Caceres closed out the round with low kicks, quick jabs and solid defensive work once Escovedo scored a late takedown and briefly took his back.

For a young fighter, it was a signature win against a veteran opponent. In the end, he took the unanimous decision via 30-27 scores.

“I feel great, and I don’t think it has all registered yet,” Caceres said. “This
was my third fight under the UFC banner, and considering that I lost my
first two, I knew that tonight it was do or die.”

Caceres, perhaps best known as “Bruce Leroy” on “The Ultimate Fighter 12,” snaps out of a 1-4 skid and surely saved his job with the victory. Escovedo (17-9 MMA, 0-3 UFC) suffers his third straight loss in the UFC and falls to 1-5 over his past six fights.

Pierce moves to 2-0 over Bradley

The second meeting ending like their first one two-and-a-half years ago: Mike Pierce earned a decision victory over Paul Bradley.

The two wrestlers first fought at a regional show in Pennsylvania back in April 2009, and Pierce’s unanimous-decision victory earned him a UFC contract. Unfortunately for a game Bradley, he couldn’t even up the score.

Both welterweights landed some heavy blows in an evenly matched first, and they closed out the round with some solid knees from clinch.

But Pierce then took control in the second round with better dirty boxing, and he was especially effective with quick punches off the clinch break. He also faked some takedowns to set up some key straight punches.

Pierce opened the third round with some solid combinations of punches and low kicks. Bradley took the aggressor role and landed some good counter punches, but Pierce snuffed out his takedown attempts and prevented his opponent from landing anything substantial during prolonged clinches and a final firefight.

“I felt great tonight, and I’m happy to get another win and continue moving up the ranks in this division,” he said.

Pierce (13-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC), who suffered a split-decision defeat to Johny Hendricks in his previous bout, is now 4-1 over his past five fights. Bradley (18-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has now dropped two straight following a UFC-debut loss to Rafael Natal in August.

Rosa tops newcomer Lucas

Aaron Rosa made a successful return to light heavyweight, picked up his first UFC victory, and took a decision over largely-ineffective UFC newcomer Matt Lucas.

The night’s curtain-jerker was short on fireworks, and Lucas appeared to gas out just a few minutes into the fight. The wrestler scored a handful of takedowns, but he failed to keep Rosa on the mat, and he was deducted a point in the second round after losing his mouthpiece multiple times.

Most of the plodding fight was contested in close quarters, and Rosa did some noticeable damage with punches, knees and elbows from the clinch. Neither fighter landed any real power shots, but Rosa was the busier fighter and dictated the flow of the bout.

“I was stalling,” Lucas said. “I think being under the lights for the first time in an event like this had something to do with it.”

“I was very happy to go out there and get the win in such a big show,” he said. “When the people started cheering, it made all the work worthwhile. My hands are feeling a little roughed up, but I’m very excited to get back in the octagon as soon as possible.”

Rosa (17-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who suffered a TKO loss to Joey Beltran in his UFC debut back in June, returns to the win column and now has claimed five victories in his past six fights. Lucas (14-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC), a Rage in the Cage champion, snaps a five-fight win streak.

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